October 6, 2014 - Virgin Atlantic announced that
it would end its daily flights between
LondonHeathrowAirport
and Manchester,
Aberdeen
and
Edinburgh
know as 'Little Red".

Little Red passenger service has failed to
produce the passenger revenue that the career
had anticipated on. It was launched in April
2013, after British Airways had to give up slots
at Heathrow airport due to its merger with
British Midland Airways (BMI).

Since its launch date, just over 18 months,
Little Red has struggle to fill passenger seats,
the carrier reported it will end the daily
service to Manchester in March 2015 and services
to Aberdeen and Edinburgh will end September
2015.

Little Red was operated by the Irish air carrier
Aer Lingus for Virgin Atlantic with its crew and
plane in Virgin Atlantic colors. Sir Richard
Branson, Virgin Atlantic’s
president said “the odds were stacked against
us”.

Virgin Atlantic reported that the
majority of passenger demand on these routes
were point-to-point customers rather than the
connecting traffic it had hoped for, feeding
more passengers onto its more profitable long
haul routes.

Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger
said “Little Red came about through an enduring
passion at Virgin Atlantic to make a difference
for our customers. We really wanted it to be a
success and everyone involved worked extremely
hard and has given it their best efforts.

“It was always a huge challenge on behalf of the
consumer, as the totally inadequate number of
slots made available by the European Commission
did not deliver close to BA’s network position,
even when supplemented by our own slots to fly
between Heathrow and Manchester. The time lag between the takeover
of BMI and our entering the market also meant
Little Red initially faced an uphill battle to
win recognition and convert customers to its
services.”

Branson further stated “When the competition authorities
allowed British Airways to take over British Midland and
all of its slots, we feared there was little we could do
to challenge BA’s huge domestic and European network
built through decades of dominance. To remedy this, we
were offered a meager package of slots with a number of
constraints on how to use them and we decided to lease a
few planes on a short term basis to give it our best
shot. The odds were stacked against us and sadly we just
couldn’t attract enough corporate business on these
routes.”